If you’re thinking about a part-time or retirement destination, or if you fancy yourself an innkeeper, wine-maker, or restaurateur, Ontario’s Niagara region has a lot to offer.

Everyone knows Niagara for the eponymous Falls that draw throngs of honeymooners and tourists. But more upscale attractions bring visitors to the region, too, creating opportunities for food-, wine-, and tourism-related businesses and establishing vibrant communities for part-time residents.

In fact, the Niagara Peninsula has become one of Canada’s major wine-producing regions. With its hot summers and freezing winters, Ontario is the world’s largest producer of ice wine, a sweet, intensely flavorful dessert wine. Not only are the region’s more than 50 wineries putting out increasingly high-quality products, the area is attracting more and more wine tourists.

– Excerpted from the book, Living Abroad in Canada. To read more, buy the book.

Photo ©Carolyn B. Heller